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“You left your heart at Ullo.”
No shit, Sherlock. Of course she had left her heart at Ullo, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t tried to move on. She’d spent the past weeks since she’d signed the contract with Monique putting her all into designing brilliant floats for Upstart. She had stuff that was going to blow Miles Barrow’s mind for the Oedipus floats… if Monique submitted it. Anger and hurt tied to her pride were good motivators and she’d created some of her best work over the past few weeks.
And it should have been for the company that carries your name.
At that thought, anger flooded her. He didn’t have to be so smug, questioning her loyalty to her new job… even if it was partly true. “My allegiance is to the person writing my paycheck. When Upstart does well, I do well. Tomorrow night I’ll prove to Miles and Oedipus that Upstart can and will build their floats next year. And they will be the most stunning, beautiful, and cost-effective floats in the history of parading.”
“So you think Upstart will replace Ullo as their go-to floatmaker?” Graham said, his eyes flashing beneath the parking lot light blinking on. No more smiles. Game on.
“Every dog has its day. Upstart has been whittling away Ullo’s business for the past two years. I’ve already brought in the captain of Thor, and Stacy Reynolds just gave us all of the floats for Rhea. We’re almost too busy… but not for Oedipus, of course. That parade would be icing on the very large cake we’ll be serving.” Tess turned and unlocked her car, the beep-beep punctuating her declaration.
And then Graham smiled at her. Not the sexy smile he’d used that beautiful night under the stars, or the sad one he’d given her in the park last Sunday. No, this one was sharky and slightly amused. Like he toyed with her. “Well, do your damnedest, sweetheart.”
She bristled. “Oh, you can bet I will.”
His smile got larger. “And why don’t you warn your boss—tell Monique she’ll stay a small potato. I don’t care if she went down on Miles under the table at Brigstons, she’s not getting that account.”
“You sexist jerk,” Tess growled, disappointment flooding her at his presumption of how Monique… or any woman did business. “You think women earn business by getting on their knees? We don’t have to give sexual favors to get accounts. Our work speaks for itself. How dare you imply such a thing?”
His expression shuttered. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“You used the words.”
“Don’t slant the intent. I wasn’t implying Monique offered sexual favors for Oedipus’s business. My point was no matter how good the offer from Upstart, you aren’t getting the account. Period. I’ll do whatever it takes, but the longstanding agreement between Ullo and Oedipus will stand. I’ll bet my job on it.”
Tess lifted her eyebrows. “We’ll see. And it might literally be your job on the line. You forget how well I know my father. He won’t suffer you to lose Miles’s business. Paired with the other losses…” She trailed off with a shrug, feeling a little ugly, but a lot powerful.
But she didn’t want to see Ullo lose business, even if she herself was making moves toward accomplishing just that. Why did Graham and Ullo have to lose in order for Tess to win?
“I’ll see you tomorrow night, Tess,” Graham said, his tone detached. A pang of regret flickered inside her at his coldness. This was what she wanted, right? They were on the opposite sides of a river with no bridge in sight. It was Ullo versus Upstart. Graham versus Tess. With no real winners.
She nodded and lowered herself into her car. “Yeah, I’ll see you.”
Graham walked away and Tess told herself she was glad. But she wasn’t. Her heart hurt for what had been between them… and what would never be again.
The other side, a place where hope lay.
And that place felt very far away.
TESSWALKEDINTOthe Oedipus May Madcap Mixer with Nick on her arm… or rather she was on Nick’s arm. Either way, she’d conceded to a date with her ex and had selfishly used this annual fete hosted by the Oedipus Social Club as the one-more-shot merely so she wouldn’t have to attend alone.
It had nothing to do with Graham and everything to do with looking confident and successful.
And for all of ten minutes she’d convinced herself Nick deserved another chance… until he’d shown up all tanned from a week of golf on the Gulf Coast, dressed in an Armani suit, smelling like new money, and she’d felt zero attraction. In fact, seeing him so loose, smiling, and making flirty jokes made her somewhat disdainful. He kept trying with little brushes of his arm and casting meaningful glances, but the effect fell flat.
Graham had ruined her for all men… or maybe what little she and Nick had once had together had dried up like Granny B’s estrogen.
“Get you something to drink, babe?” Nick said, wrapping an arm around her waist. She waited to feel warmth, some flicker of something at Nick’s touch, but there was nothing.
Pulling away, she smiled. “I’ll take my usual.”
Nick brushed back his golden hair. “Aye-aye, captain.”
“Hey, I’m the captain around these here parts,” Miles Barrow said from behind her.
Tess spun with a grin—how could she not? The man was hard to dislike. “Miles.”
“Ah, Tess of the Ullos,” the captain of Oedipus joked, kissing her cheek and giving her a brief squeeze. “You’re looking ravishing, as usual.”
